High needs benchmarking glossary

These are terms which are used in the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool which will help you understand and use the tool more effectively.

High needs glossary

Term	Meaning
Balance carried forward	Balance carried forward is a cumulative number that is decreased each year by any shortfall amount and increased each year by any excess amount. The s251 outturn statement will show the overall deficit or surplus the local authority is carrying compared to the funding they receive for the provision of education.
DSG allocation	Dedicated Schools Grant. Money allocated by Department for Education to local authorities for specific education related services. This is divided into the blocks it should be spent in and includes: schools block (calculated based on national funding formula) high needs block early years block central school services block
In year balance	The financial balance of a school or a local authority within a specific year, considering both income and expenditure. The in-year balance determines whether the school or authority has a surplus (spending less than income) or a deficit (spending more than income) for that particular year.
National Funding Formula	The methodology used by the DfE to determine the per pupil amount allocated to the schools block for each local authority.
Outturn	The outturn is the actual amount spent on high needs by local authorities in each financial year. This is taken from the s251 outturn statement. Place funding in academies (recoupment) Where the outturn refers to place funding, or total outturn for the local authority, we have included place funding for pupils with special educational needs taught in academies. While the s251 outturn only records direct Local Authority spending, our methodology integrates academy-level data from the High Needs Places publication. We map each academy to its respective category (Primary, Secondary, Special, or Alternative Provision). We then calculate the total place funding for these academies and add it into the outturn.
Place funding	Place funding is allocated as an annual amount of core high needs funding for schools and colleges. Place funding is allocated at a standard rate for a number of places, reflecting the number of high needs placements which commissioning local authorities are expected to require in the period.
Planned expenditure	A financial plan outlining how allocated funds will be spent over the upcoming period. In this service this refers to the s251 budget statement. The budget calculations are carried out inclusive of the academy allocation.
S251	The regulatory requirement to prepare and submit annual, education and children and young people's services, budget and outturn statements for each financial year.
Top-up funding	The additional financial support allocated by local authorities to schools for pupils with Education, Health, and Care Plans (EHCPs). This makes up the difference between the cost of meeting the needs in the EHCP and the place funding element of high needs for each pupil.

Other terms used in the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool

Term	Meaning
AAR	Academy Accounts Return
AP	Alternative provision. This relates to academies.
BFR	Budget forecast return. Data collected for academic and financial year analysis by Department for Education. This applies to the academy sector only.
CFP	Curriculum and Financial Planning. This is a management process that has been tailored for FBIT from the Integrated Curriculum and Financial Planning (ICFP) process. This helps schools plan the best curriculum for their pupils with the funding they have available.
CFR	Consistent Financial Reporting. The consistent financial reporting (CFR) framework provides a standard template for schools to collect information about their income and expenditure by financial years. Maintained schools then provide this information to their local authorities in a financial statement each year
FBIS	A summary showing highlights of your schools spending compared with a number of similar schools. This replaced Benchmarking Report Cards (BRC).
FSM	Free school meals
High executive pay	Financial compensation for senior executive staff in academy trusts.
IDACI	Income deprivation affecting children index
KS2	Key stage 2
KS4	Key stage 4
LA	Local authority
National funding formula	The way government decides how much core funding should be allocated for mainstream state funded schools.
NMSS	Non maintained special school (or independent special school)
Ofsted rating	A grade given to schools and other educational establishments by the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills.
ONS	Office for National Statistics
Post-school	Further education (FE) colleges, sixth form colleges, independent colleges, special post-16 institutions and other post-16 providers that do not provide for pupils of compulsory school age, including 16-19 maintained schools and academies.
PRU	Pupil referral unit. These are local authority maintained.
RAG	Red, amber and green (RAG) priority ratings are shown to give an indication of the spending compared to similar schools. The rating is not an indication of performance. It is used to display if spending is significantly more or less than similar schools. This does not consider any individual spending strategies which might apply. The ratings are intended for schools and trusts to identify potential areas to help them make informed spending decisions.
SEN	Special educational needs
SEN2	A statutory annual data collection of special educational needs.
VCU	Vulnerable children's unit